Summertime Poetry Contest

**Note: The deadline for entering this contest has ended. The three Summertime Poetry Contest winners and their poems were announced in the September 2010 edition of the Homeschool View®.**

Dost thou wonder how thou can inspirest thy child to be creative on a summer's day? Thankfully, you don't have to speak like Shakespeare to encourage your homeschool students in grades K-12 to enter the 1st Annual Summertime Poetry Contest at Alpha Omega Publications®.

Don't delay! Have your child break open that new, back-to-school box of pencils early and take your shot at winning win one of three great prizes:

1st Place PrizeYour choice of one language arts core course for any grade level in Monarch™, Switched-On Schoolhouse®, or LIFEPAC®

or

One language arts elective from a selection of British Literature, American Literature, Speech: Essentials of Communication, GED Preparatory Language Arts (Monarch and SOS only), and LIFEPAC Select: Composition

3rd Place PrizeA set of three classic books, including To Kill a Mockingbird, The Miracle Worker, and 20,000 Leagues under the Sea

To enter, the child must write a poem that pertains to the theme of summertime, using one of the six categories below. Possible ideas include summer memories, vacations, activities, sports, and the Fourth of July. Then, parents must complete the entry form by 3 p.m. (CT) on July 31, 2010.

The three overall winners will be chosen based on age and the difficulty level of the type of poem, and the winning poems will be published in the September Homeschool View®. So, put feathered pen to paper today and, as the old bard himself said, "Be not afraid of greatness."

**Note: The deadline for entering this contest has ended. The three Summertime Poetry Contest winners and their poems were announced in the September 2010 edition of the Homeschool View®.**

Poetry Categories

1. Haiku. Adapted from the Japanese, haiku is an unrhymed form that consists of three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. Because it is so brief, a haiku is imaginative and expressive, capturing a single moment in very few words.

2. Ballad. Ballads are poems that tell a story. They are often used in songs and have a very musical quality to them. Ballads consist of four-line stanzas that end in either an abcb or abab rhyme scheme.

3. Sonnet. Popularized by Shakespeare, sonnets are lyrical poems that are 14 lines. A sonnet includes three quatrains (four lines) that follow a conventional rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef. Then, the poem concludes with two lines (a couplet) that also rhyme.

4. Free verse. Free verse is poetry that is free from fixed meter or rhyme. The poet may choose to include some rhyming words, but the poem does not have to rhyme. A free verse poem may be just a sentence that is artistically placed on the page, or it can be pages of words. Some forms of free verse separate or split phrases and words between lines. Punctuation may be absent, or it may be used to place greater emphasis on specific words. The main object of free verse is to use colorful words, punctuation, and word placement to convey meaning to the reader.

5. Sestina. Consisting of 39 lines, the sestina is a strict form of poetry composed of six stanzas of six lines each followed by an additional three lines called an envoy. Rather than using a rhyme scheme, the six ending words of the first stanza are repeated as the ending words of the other five stanzas in a set pattern. The form is as follows, where each numeral indicates the stanza position and the letters represent end-words:1. ABCDEF2. FAEBDC3. CFDABE4. ECBFAD5. DEACFB6. BDFECA7. Envoy:Line 1: Middle: B; End: ALine 2: Middle: F; End ELine 3: Middle: D; End: C.

6. Finish This Thought. Designed for the youngest of poets, this four-line poem involves completing the poem started below. The child's additional two lines should make sense with the two provided.

Oh, how I love the Fourth of July!The fireworks that fill and light the night sky,

(Note: This category is limited to ages 9 and under, though children under 9 may enter any of the six categories).